The Inconvenient Truth about Ghetto Communities’ Social Breakdown

National Review Online ^ | Thomas Sowell

[OttawaFreeper]

Among the many painful ironies in the current racial turmoil is that communities scattered across the country were disrupted by riots and looting because of the demonstrable lie that Michael Brown was shot in the back by a white policeman in Missouri — but there was not nearly as much turmoil created by the demonstrable fact that a fleeing black man was shot dead by a white policeman in South Carolina. Totally ignored was the fact that a black policeman in Alabama fatally shot an unarmed white teenager, and was cleared of any charges, at about the same time that a white policeman was cleared of charges in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.

[OttawaFreeper]

Thomas Sowell, hits the nail on the head again, but probably has long been considered an "Uncle Tom" for simply speaking the truth all of these years. Sad, isn't it?

[Gaffer]

It isn’t a “legacy of slavery” insomuch as it is decades’ long history of government enticement to idleness and sloth coupled with a strong compulsion to get something for nothing. Government, this! FEDERAL government, stays in power because of the scale-tipping votes of those they are figuratively enslaving on the new entitlement plantation.

Yet, we are coming to an age (maybe already there) where Federal Government’s (this! Administration, in particular) attention is becoming focused on those new souls they do not already have on the plantation: illegals and Muslims of all origin and purpose.

To be true, this! Federal government is succeeding. But they do not understand the scope of the deal they have made with the new devils they pander to and court. It is their, and our destruction. Our future.

[CharlesOConnell]

Seen in Readers’ Digest in 1967: A gainfully employed African-American man was told, “you should quit your job, go down to the Department of Social Services, and get on welfare.” That would ruin anybody, regardless of the Content of their Color.

[gusopol3]

Also forgotten is the name Brian Moore.

[American in Israel]

I always instantly abort sites that play unwanted videos while I am trying to read, or blank out the page with a clickable overlay.

Sorry to see national review go that route.

[mrsmel]

The really sad thing is, those who most need to hear and heed what he says, are the least likely to even know of his existence. We conservatives pay attention to him, but we’re like the “amen corner”.

[spintreebob]

Pre-suppositions and expectations are a big part of the drama. Reagan said: Some people see government as the problem. Some people see government as the solution.

My ancestors, my culture see government as the problem. It was a problem for my ancestors in Europe. It was a problem for my parents. I see it a repeatedly a problem for me. I expect the government, the police, the IRS, the building inspector to be problems to me.

Many Blacks come from a culture and view of history where government is seen as the solution. They expect government to be the solution. They especially expect Democrat party government to be the solution. They expect the government police to be the solution.

So Blacks with these cultural expectations of government are angry when the police repeatedly act contrary to their expectations. It never occurs to them to question their culture based pre-suppositions. What occurs to them is to blame the police, the Democrats who run Ferguson, the Democrats who run St Louis County, the Democrats governor, the Democrat mayor of NY, the Democrats who run everything in MD.

In their minds, they want the Democrats to act more like Democrats, that is, more like GOOD Democrats.

Their culture and mentality is still the plantation mentality where the master/the government should be kind to the people on the plantation and not beat them for no reason at all. The only time extreme punishment is justified is when someone tries to leave the plantation and question the pre-suppositions of the culture.

[oldbrowser]

The welfare state has led to remarkably similar trends among the white underclass in England over the same period.

I didn't know that.

[Carriage Hill]

Try AdBlockPlus; it works filtering out that garbage.

https://adblockplus.org

[savedbygrace]

“If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.”

-Frank Herbert, author of Dune

[Oldeconomybuyer]

"The fundamental problem, in which this is most clearly the case, is that of family structure. The evidence -- not final, but powerfully persuasive -- is that the Negro family in the urban ghettos is crumbling. A middle-class group has managed to save itself, but for vast numbers of the unskilled, poorly educated city working class the fabric of conventional social relationships has all but disintegrated."

- Daniel Patrick Moynahan, 1965

The above passage was the blueprint for the progressives 50 year assault on the black family which created a reliable vote in exchange for dependence on government.

[Albion Wilde]

I always instantly abort sites that play unwanted videos while I am trying to read, or blank out the page with a clickable overlay.

Try AdBlockPlus. It makes surfing much easier.

[FreeInWV]

Alot of this has to do with law enforcement policies related to poor (note, I did not say black!) communities too. The broken windows policies of many major cities have devastated their communities. Poor residents consider law enforcement illegitimate and harmful. They see them as an occupation force there to mess with them regardless of wrongdoing. They see that they are treated differently than people in more affluent communities. For instance, any of these things will get an immediate takedown and arrest in their communities:

drinking beer on their stoop
riding a bike on the sidewalk
fare avoidance
subway dancing
putting feet or a backpack on a subway seat
grilling in front of house
sleeping on a park bench
going in a park after dark
loitering
jaywalking
making eye contact with police (probable cause for a search)
pot possession (25 grams concealed is legal. if frisked and taken out of their pocket, it is no longer concealed)
carrying a pocketknife (even for work)

If anyone did these things where we live, they would be ignored by police. If by chance we were arrested, we would fight it with a lawyer and probably prevail. The inner city poor can’t afford lawyers, so they typically take a plea and the corresponding punishment. Probably a big fine they can’t pay and a criminal record that precludes them from finding gainful employment.

If we had to live like that, we would be enraged and talking about occupation forces and martial law.

Just imagine how the protestors at the Bundy Ranch would have reacted if they were stopped and frisked for making eye contact with the police. And then arrested for petty offences like standing in the road or loitering. Or arrested for having a switchblade (a 2” pocketknife that could be shaken open by police after a couple dozen tries).

[Organic Panic]

One can’t ignore the breeding pool in ghettos. You have violent lazy people breeding with violent lazy people for generations. It happens in any population that is isolated.

[OttawaFreeper]

All of the posts here are excellent and I thank them all very much, but yours is at the head of the class, IMHO. Very perceptive observations on culture and intertwining views on government and I had not really thought about that before. Thanks.

[spintreebob]

The Civil War/Emancipation is the best example of different views.

In my ancestors’ culture, the capitalism of Adam Smith was the ability of each adult individual to enter into voluntary contracts. The role of government was to enforce contracts. Slavery was not a voluntary contract and therefore the government (sheriff, US Marshall) should not have enforced those contracts..and indeed should have been against slave owners using force, which is a power reserved to government.

My ancestor’s saw John Brown as the solution. They saw the government as reluctant to free the slaves and being forced by radical aboltionists into acting.

But most Blacks think slavery is part of capitalism. They see the sheriff enforcing slavery as doing the bidding of the “capitalist” slave masters. They think big government waged the civil war and big government freed the slaves.

Thus they see big government as the solution. It is an unspoken, often unaware presumption of the cultural way of thinking.

[submarinerswife]

save

[driftless2]

So what are you saying...the jails and prisons are full of innocent black citizens who were caught jaywalking, riding their bikes on the sidewalk, etc.? Can you provide some statistics about how many black males in prison today are there for some of those offenses you listed?

[FreeInWV]

I specifically did not mention race. You did.

As for statistics:

“A Daily News analysis shows the seven offenses that would be sent to one of the city’s administrative civil courts under the Mark-Viverito plan account for roughly 2.7 million, or 42%, of the summonses issued by the NYPD between 2001 and June 2014. They also account for more than 510,000 open arrest warrants, according to the analysis of data provided by the state Office of Court Administration.

The seven offenses under consideration are public consumption of alcohol, public urination, bicycling on the sidewalk, being in a park after dark, failure to obey a park sign, littering and unreasonable noise. “

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/city-council-decriminalize-host-offenses-article-1.2190943

http://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/government/5497-city-council-power-over-broken-windows-policing

[driftless2]

You’re being disingenuous. You certainly implied race. You mentioned the “poor” of the inner cities. Gee whiz, who could that be? And “we” wouldn’t be arrested for the same minor offenses. Who could “we” be?...hmmm....let me think.